Are you ready to take your marketing to the next level? Wanna have a steady stream of your ideal clients coming to you?

If so, then you’ll love this podcast episode!

Based out of Brisbane, Australia, Kathryn Porritt is a Marketing Strategist and Business Coach who supports clients across the globe. She’s a renowned entrepreneur with specialized experience in service-based businesses. Kathryn currently serves as CEO of several companies in the wedding and event industry, which include Weddings Inc., Wedding Masterclass, and Selling Luxury.

In this interview, Kathryn breaks down the four pillars of your marketing success: 1) branding, 2) website design, 3) digital sales funnels, and 4) social media presence. Along the way, she highlights common pitfalls for wedding professionals and teaches you how to avoid them.

The key points that Kathryn addresses over the course of this interview include:

The importance of thoroughly understanding your target market

How to identify your authentic “brilliance” and use it to build a brand that resonates

The value of aligning your lifestyle goals with your business goals

Website design guidelines that will help you increase conversion

How to map different customer journeys to an online sales funnel

Two key recommendations to enhance your social media strategy

Marketing automation tools that help you save time and optimize your content

Her top piece of advice for achieving success in business (and in life!)

Press the play button below to listen to this value-packed interview, and be sure to subscribe to our podcast in iTunes for more insights that you can apply to your business.

Thank you, Kathryn, for sharing your words of wisdom with us and for being a part of the Timeline Genius community!

It’s the final countdown to Wedding MBA and we are looking forward to connecting with you while sharing all of the great things Timeline Genius has to offer. We’re finalizing task lists and busting out our most comfortable footwear, but before we head out, here are a few tips to make the most of the conference.

Stop By Our Booth!

We love meeting our Timeline Genius community members, so definitely stop by booth #2431C and say hello. Be sure to grab a bunch of special referral cards to hand out during the conference! For every referral of a paid annual subscription, you will receive two free months on your account!

Check out our Floor Talk!

Our CEO Eddie Babbage will be presenting a Floor Talk on 11/6 at 1p.m. He’ll be sharing some expert tips and tools for saving hours on your timelines! Be sure to stop by and say hello!

Connect with the speakers as much as possible.

One of the best parts of Wedding MBA is the list of incredible speakers! After each session, many speakers hang out to answer questions. Introduce yourself and take some time to get answers to your questions.

Have a plan.

Take a moment to identify the speakers, vendors, venues and peers that you want to make sure to meet. Map out your time so that you can fit it all in! Bring business cards to pass out, and a business card holder to collect cards from other people.

Network!

Get to know other wedding professionals who can expand your network, share best practices, and help you build your knowledge and skills.

Remember, the key to a strong connection is listening. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and share a genuine interest in the person you are connecting with.

I’m writing this post to address two important questions that come up a lot in my conversations with our Timeline Genius users. (Note: I’ve also provided a short clip above to share my answers in video format.)

Question 1: “How do I handle a situation where I have more than one contact person at a particular vendor or venue?”

To provide a clear answer to this question, let’s consider a hypothetical situation… Let’s say you have a given vendor, Ace Photography, and they have two photographers, Jane Doe and John Smith.

The best way to handle this case in your Timeline Genius Rolodex is to create one vendor record for “Ace Photography,” with “Jane Doe” as the contact person. Then, create another vendor record for “Ace Photography,” with “John Smith” as the contact person. And of course, you’ll enter Jane’s contact information on her page and John’s information on his.

After you do this, you’ll have the flexibility to treat Jane and John as separate individuals. For example, if you’re working on a wedding with Jane, and not John, you can include Jane in the timeline, and not John. Or if Jane and John are both involved in the same wedding, you can add them both to the timeline. In that case, you’ll still be able to assign them to separate timeline items and manage their collaboration rights individually.

Overall, this approach lets you work fluidly with as many vendor contacts as you please. And you can use this same strategy if you have multiple contacts at a venue.

Question 2: “How do I handle a situation where a given vendor or venue plays multiple roles?”

Let’s consider another hypothetical situation to address this question. Assume you have a given vendor, Sparks Entertainment, who is handling the reception music and the photo booth. You can create one vendor in your Timeline Genius Rolodex with the name “Sparks Entertainment (Music)” and the vendor role “Reception Music.” And you can create another rolodex entry with the vendor name “Sparks Entertainment (Photo Booth)” and vendor role “Photo Booth.” Then, you can assign the reception music and photo booth vendors to separate timeline items, as appropriate.

You can also use this same strategy if you have a venue that is handling multiple aspects of an event — e.g. acting as venue and caterer.

If these points aren’t totally clear, please check out the short video posted above. And feel free to post comments and questions here if any come to mind.

Wanna build a team that can help you take your business to the next level?

If so, then you’re going to love this podcast episode!

Nora Sheils is the founder of the award-winning wedding planning company, Bridal Bliss, which has offices in Portland and Seattle. Over the last 16 years, Nora has built a team that includes 18 planners and 15 to 20 assistants. And her company plans 120 to 150 weddings per year.

In this interview, Nora shares her unique system for building the right team for a wedding planning company. She also reflects on the key factors that have driven her success and allowed her to build one of the premier planning companies in the Northwest.

Here are some of the key points Nora addresses:

The top 2 factors that have driven her success

How to design a hiring process that systematically brings new talent into your company

It’s the middle of wedding season and you have a million things to do to. The last thing on your mind is wondering when you last checked in with your client. Whether that’s someone who may have just booked your services, or a client who’s wedding may not be for several months. You’re not thinking about how to continue nurturing your client relationships as you can’t even keep up with the emails piling up in your inbox.

Here are a few tips on how you can create and maintain a meaningful client relationship without compromising your time and workflow.

Over communicate

Once you’ve booked a client, what’s your follow-up game? How do you first thank them for them trusting you with the details of their wedding? Do you check in with them regularly? How do do you communicate important policies or details including reminders? How soon before a wedding do you confirm the details? What’s your game plan after the wedding?

The last thing you want your client to feel is that you’ve fallen off the face of the earth. Create an email sequence that’s scripted and in template form which will not only save you time, but create consistency in your messaging. To get started, create a timeline beginning with the time they sign the contract. End your timeline on either their wedding date or, better yet, their anniversary date. Why their anniversary date? Because it’s another opportunity to catch them by surprise and mail them an anniversary card. You never know when they’ll need your services again so stay at the top of their mind.

From there, start mapping out intervals of when you want to send your emails. Automate your process by utilizing a Client Relationship Manager (CRM). A good CRM allows you to send emails while you’re working, based on a timeline workflow.

Serve not sell

One really important thing to remember is that while you may have helped plan hundreds of weddings, this is likely your clients first. As the saying goes “you don’t know, what you don’t know” and couldn’t be more true for a bride or groom planning their big day. As a wedding professional, you’re not only solving a problem for your client, you’re educating them along the way. When you stop thinking about your client as a transaction and start looking at them as someone to serve, big shifts begin to happen in your business. You’ve not only taken the stress off of you, but your clients will truly start to feel heard and that you’re there for them, not a paycheck.

Don’t rely solely on email

We’re addicted to email, but that doesn’t mean your client is. In fact, they may not be receiving your emails and you’d never know! To help save time on quick questions, send a text or better yet, pick up the phone and call them. This can eliminate countless follow-ups and take the stress off your clients thinking you’ve disappeared.

Give your full attention

You’re on a call with your client but in the background you’re also checking email. You think you’re being productive, but did you know multitasking is a myth? That’s right, there’s no such thing. What you’re doing is called task shifting. This is where you’re shifting your attention back and forth from one thing to another. Studies have shown that it can take up to 17 minutes to shift your full attention back to what it was you’re doing. So when you’re in a client meeting, give them your undivided attention. If you don’t, you’re not only likely to miss out on them saying something important, but you’re giving away precious time. And besides, your client will know when you’re not truly present. You want a relationship that demonstrates professionalism and that their time is valued.

With these tips, you’ll have a system in place allowing you to be more productive all while creating raving clients.

Lane’ Richards is a multidisciplinary entrepreneur and creative behind Something Borrowed Portland, an award-winning event design and specialty rental company based in Portland, OR. Her newest venture, Wedding Pro Coaching, offers mastermind business coaching and educational programs to wedding industry professionals who need help building, running, and growing their businesses in the crowded wedding industry.

I’m delighted to announce that we have now added a bulk action feature to help you collaborate even more seamlessly on your timelines!

As you know, Timeline Genius lets you invite your clients, vendors, and venues to access timelines online. And you can manage each person’s access rights on anitem-by-item basis (making items ‘viewable’, ‘hidden’, or ‘editable’).

With the new bulk action feature, you can instantly change the access rights for as many timeline items as you want. So you can zip through your timelines and easily configure collaboration settings to your liking.

To see a quick tutorial on collaboration and the new bulk action feature, just check out the video below.

We hope this new feature saves you time and helps you shine on like the rock star you are! 🙂

We’ve got more exciting features coming soon, so stay tuned for updates!

Wanna go beyond strategies and tactics to explore core lessons for succeeding in the wedding industry?

If so, then this podcast episode is for you!

Andy Kushner is a dynamic, passion-fueled leader in the event industry. As CEO of the award-winning entertainment design company, Andy Kushner Entertainment, he’s found a unique way to channel his love for music, business, and life.

Andy is also the creator of The Wedding Biz podcast, where he’s hosted the likes of Preston Bailey, Colin Cowie, David Tutera, Sylvia Weinstock, Carley Roney, and more.

In this interview, Andy shares some of the most profound lessons he’s learned from his 20 plus years of business experience and from his in-depth conversations with top influencers in the wedding industry.